


Breeders

by tfoh



Category: British Actor RPF, Sherlock (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24287383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfoh/pseuds/tfoh
Summary: Amanda's out of town and Martin's away from work, so they decided to have Ben look after the kids.As a proper stepfather should.Yes I apparently wrote this and titled it such in honour of Martin's Breeders.
Relationships: Benedict Cumberbatch/Martin Freeman
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Breeders

If Joe and Grace had a choice, they would never have said yes, but they didn’t.

On Thursday night, their mommy dropped them a lovely bombshell. Starting tomorrow, she would be on a sweet little trip to Italy with Uncle Jonjo for three whole days, which was fine, because they already knew that. What was not fine was that she would have someone to look after them, someone who’s not Grandpa and Grandma, nor an overtly kindhearted neighbour, not even a babysitter. They were to stay in Daddy’s house in North London, except that, as Joe said, “Dad’s in Los Angeles!”

“It’s okay,” said Amanda with a grin. “Benny’s still here.”

“But why can’t we just stay at home? Who would take care of Stan et al if we are gone?”

‘Stan et al’ referred to the family pets. Grace was hoping that it would get Mom to reconsider, because she couldn’t possibly dump all the doggies kittens hamsters and tarantulas to Benny too. Amanda could not be swayed in the slightest, however. She said that she got some nice shops agreed to look after the furry family members, so there was absolutely nothing to worry about. After she dropped the kids at school tomorrow, she would send everyone else to their temporary shelter.

“We can go find some care center too! Or stay with Uncle Jamie!” Joe made the last attempt to alter their fate, to which Amanda said, yes, in theory, they could probably stay with Uncle Jamie, however, Benny had already agreed to this, and it was a mutual decision with their Dad.

“Aww, come on, it’s not like you’ve never met Benny."

"But Mom!"

"Pack everything you need, and tomorrow after school Benny will pick you up. Now go to bed.”

Amanda pressed a kiss on her children’s cheeks and bid them a good sleep. Joe and Grace returned to their rooms, gathered all the essentials, and placed them in the backpacks, like always. Actually, Mom was right, it wasn’t that they’d never stayed at Benny’s. Dad usually had them stay over there for weekends, and it was okay. They also knew that Benny was a good lad, who genuinely cared about them. It was just that, Dad used to be around whenever they had to face Benny, and Benny? What he had done could never be simply written off. Maybe Mom could pretend that _everything was fine_ , but they couldn't, nor could they ever forget. There were things that were never meant to be forgiven.

The next day, Amanda set off for Italy after she had everyone settle down. For Joe and Grace, it was merely the beginning of all the turmoil ahead. Well, at least this time, they wouldn’t accidentally walk into a room and find Benny’s hand in Dad’s pants.

This morning, they received a message from Dad. "Be nice to Benny,” it read. “Don't make any trouble".

If Benedict had a choice, he would not have said yes either. And yet how could he ever say no when Martin asked him to? When _Amanda_ asked him to? He knew that he owed her forever, and he had been trying to pay the debt for years. Whenever she called him, she would always call him 'Benny', in the most affectionate tone. Whenever they met, she would also give him the most generous hug. However, they both knew, the only reason why they still pretended to be on good terms, was that neither of them wanted to make the cover of some tabloids for a juicy feud. In all honesty, perhaps, Amanda would rather that she was like Mary Morstan, getting to put a bullet in his heart. Benedict couldn't blame her for that. After all, he was the one at fault.

He could envision how tough it would be looking after the kids on his own. When Martin was here, he could keep them under control. Now that Martin was on the other side of the Atlantic, Ben had no idea how miserable this would end. Nothing would surprise him, he thought, as Joe and Grace must hate him to the guts. Which was also well justified. If it weren't for him, the four of them, and all their pets, would still be living together happily. The kids were nice, fortunately, and they never showed any hostility against him. He knew, though, so did Joe and Grace themselves, and so did Amanda and Martin. _Well, so did everyone, actually._

On Friday, Ben had a ceremony he must go to. Afterwards, he collected himself, and had Dave drive him to pick the kids up. They arrived at Grace's school first. The girl spotted Ben right away. Ben waved at her, went over to grab her hand, and Grace played along. She had this huge, brilliant smile on her face, like any other kid thinking _"FINALLY it's Friday and my dad's here I can go home yay"_.

"Have your mom told you that you and Joe will be staying with me for the weekend?" asked Ben. Grace nodded, holding his hand, and they walked towards his Benz parked by the road.

"Benny, why are you wearing a suit?"

Like Amanda, Grace and Joe only ever called him 'Benny', which he also never corrected.

"Because I was at an event."

"Okay," said Grace. Dave got off the car and helped them open the door, and Ben introduced him to Grace as his bodyguard and driver.

"And why are you bringing a bodyguard?"

"Because I came over right after the event, and Dave drove me here."

"Huh, then why didn't you bring your _pr stunt_?"

"My _WHAT_?"

"Nothing," Grace curved her lips to show a pleasant smile. She greeted Dave and got in the car. They would head off to pick up Joe now.

Before they got to Joe's school, the boy was already waiting for them by the road. Shortly beforehand, a classmate asked him if he wanted to hang out during the weekends, but he said he wouldn't be going home today as Mom was away. He had to stay with his stepmother.

"You have a stepmother? Is she an actress? Can I meet her?"

"Better not, or you will be traumatised."

By the time Ben arrived, Joe had convinced his classmates to leave first, so no one stayed behind to take a peek. Dave drove them to Ben's house in North London and left.

As usual, Joe and Grace would stay in the two guest rooms of the house. After they had unpacked, Ben took them to have a grand vegan meal.

That evening, Joe told Ben that Friday nights had always been movie nights at home.

"For real?" Ben had never heard Amanda or Martin mention it, but Grace gave him a firm nod and said that it was a newly formed tradition after she turned ten.

"Okay, so what do you want to watch? We've got some nice family films here."

"This one!" Joe handed Ben a set of discs, on the cover of which was a red balloon holding by a clown, a child in yellow, and two bloody letters, read 'IT'. It was a horror film from 2017. God knew where Joe found it. This was when Ben realised that Joe had been holding it in his hands ever since the boy proposed to watch movies together.

"Eh, this is not for children," Ben pointed to the 15-rating on the cover. "See? You have to age above 15 to watch this. Let's try something else."

"But it's a story about children, why can't we watch it?" Grace protested. She seized the discs and returned them to Joe, who, knowingly, went to turn on the television.

"It's a story about children but it's a horror film!" Ben cried, but Grace still looked confused and disappointed. "But Mom said we could watch it," she begged.

"She did?"

"Yes! We've watched _The Conjuring, Annabelle,_ and _Saw_. Mom said we could watch horror now, so it's fine."

"Well..." perhaps he should go ask Amanda to verify it. While he was pondering, Joe already inserted the discs into the player. Their task distribution was just perfect. She pulled Ben over to the sofa to sit, he grabbed the remote control and started the film. They left Ben no chance to regret it.

"I'm still not sure that this is a good idea," he sighed, trying to persuade the kids into giving up. "Look, if you got scared, you wouldn't be able to sleep well at night. We should switch to lighter ones."

"Are you scared, Benny?" said Joe, who was sitting right next to Ben after he started the film. "If you are scared, we won't watch it. It's okay."

"Or you can hold our hands, so you won't be scared," said Grace, who was also sitting next to Ben, but on the other side. To prove that she was telling the truth, the kids both took his hands as a sort of reassurance. Ben couldn't bring himself to pull his hands out, so the only thing he could do was to sit stiffly and watch the film.

"I'm not scared. I've watched it before."

"Were you scared the first time you watched it?" asked Grace. Ben shook his head.

"So it's not scary at all," said Joe, to which Ben wanted to say, _"that's NOT what I meant!"_

"Why didn't you come to the premiere of Dad's _Ghost Stories_? Were you scared?" asked Joe.

"Because I was busy."

"Then did you watch it in the cinema afterwards? With Dad?"

"Did you hold his hand when you were scared?" asked Grace.

"I wasn't scared. Let's concentrate on the movie. You'd miss a lot of fun if you missed the beginning."

"It's okay if you're scared, Benny. _Fear is wisdom in the face of danger. It’s nothing to be ashamed of._ "

Ben recalled clearly, what Grace just said was his line in _The Abominable Bride_.

The movie night ended in the kids' cheers. To Ben's relief, they said the film was not scary at all, and that it was actually good fun. After the kids went to bed, their first day together welcomed its blissful closure. To think that they had lived past this day peacefully, and that it was tremendously better than anything he had imagined, Ben somehow started to look forward to the future a bit more.

"Do you want me to read you a story before sleep?"

When Ben was a kid, his Dad Tim often read bedtime stories to him. He had always longed for such a chance, telling stories to your kids. So many times he had said that he would love to have children, but he would probably never have one of his own. Well, maybe sometime in the future, he and Martin would consider adoption. As of now? For Ben, Joe and Grace were more like his children than anyone else in the world, though they would never admit to that.

"You can read bedtime stories, Benny?" said Joe with raised brows.

"Yeah, I'm very good at it. You want to listen?"

The boy shook his head, saying that he was too sleepy for anything and went upstairs to bed. From what Ben saw, though, he was dashing up the stairs and seemed pretty energetic. After Joe left, Ben found Grace staring at him. Knowing that Ben had noticed her, she put on a smile.

"Benny, are you really good?"

"Really. Have your Dad told you that I'm good at imitating?"

"Great!" she exclaimed delightfully. "Let's go then. I can't wait to hear it."

"You've picked a book?"

"Yep. I brought it all the way from home."

Upon arriving at her room, Grace drew out a tome from her backpack and passed it to Ben. It was _the Voodoo Encyclopaedia_ , which properly shattered Ben when he accepted it. Grace not only owned this book, but also carried this two-pound volume around and treated it as a light read. While Ben was patching himself back together, Grace settled down on her bad and looked at him in profound anticipation.

"Eh...you sure you want me to read this? We can also try some fairy tales..."

"But Mommy reads this to me every day."

 _FINE._ This "Mom did it" and "Mom said so" again. Ben began to wonder if they were being entirely honest. When Martin was at home, they weren't all Mom this and Mom that. Maybe they were doing it intentionally, and it was understandable. Ben did kind of take over their Mommy's place, so it was natural for the kids to compare them. He could only accept it, could never say no. He couldn't even go ask Amanda whether any of what they claimed was true, because if she said no, and he agreed to it, then it was his fault.

"Umm, okay. Where did your Mom stop last time?"

"You can start from the beginning."

"Alright," Ben turned to the first chapter. "The origin of Voodoo,” he read, and saw Grace giving him a bright smile. _She's probably GENUINELY interested._ Ben continued to read, finished the whole chapter, and significantly enhance his knowledge in African culture. Grace finally let out a yawn and announced that she was tired, and they might continue tomorrow. Ben promised her that he would definitely read her chapter two the next night, and turned off the light for her.

Back to his room, Ben threw himself to bed and almost fell asleep immediately. Before that, however, there was one more thing he must do. He forced himself to reopen his eyes and reached for his phone. Martin had messaged him a few times, asking how everything went, and if Joe and Grace gave him a hard time.

 _It's afternoon in Los Angeles now._ Ben thought, _Martin will soon be busy again._ He briefly replied, saying that the kids were behaving, and they had a lovely time.

Martin messaged back instantly. ' _They've kept you awake this late'_.

 _'No it's fine'_ , he typed, suppressing all the tiredness. He truly had no strength to type longer sentences.

 _'It's late, get some rest. We'll talk tomorrow'._ In came another message.

Martin sent him a smiley face, which also put a smile on Ben's face. His husband wasn't at home, and he missed him so much that it hurt a little bit. And yet whenever they got to chat, and whenever Martin said something sweet, he'd always feel a stream of honey coursing through.

 _'Good night'._ He pressed on the phone, ready to send but hesitated, and then added, _'I miss you'_.

 _Sent._ Ben turned off his phone, closed his eyes and fell fast into sleep.

On the next morning, he woke up early as usual. The time difference between London and Los Angeles meant that Ben would have to rise up early to talk to Martin before he went to sleep. He saw Martin replying last night, ' _Good night and miss you too'_ , and it was enough to charge him up for the new day. He sent Martin a heart and then slipped his phone into the pocket. Now he would go preparing breakfast for the kids. See, parenting could also be enjoyment, especially when you watched your kids finishing up the dishes you put effort into cooking.

Breakfast was ready, and Ben woke the kids up. The two of them sat by the dining table and gazed at the food, did seem totally preoccupied. "Benny, did you make this?" asked Grace, her head tilted.

"Yeah, try it," he smirked, but the kids didn't pick up the forks. They exchanged a look, and then Joe took out his phone. God knew what he was doing. Maybe he was talking to his Mom?

"Joe, what are you doing?" Ben frowned, worrying that the boy was making a complaint.

"He's playing a game," said Grace, but she didn't start her meal either.

"I'm not playing games!" Joe refuted.

"You'd wish he were playing games, Benny," said the girl in all seriousness. Ben froze, _please God he's not complaining to Amanda, is he?_

Soon Joe put his phone away and grabbed the knife and fork, fiddling with the food on the plate.

"Benny, it's vegan," he grimaced. Could this be the problem?

"You two don't eat vegan meals?"

"Not really."

"Oh. Sorry. Your Dad and I usually have vegan meals at home. I thought you would too."

Martin was the one preparing breakfast every time Joe and Grace dropped by, because he was better at handling the equipment. Ben didn't pay much attention to what was in the kids' plates, to be unfortunately truthful.

"Dad would usually put an egg," Grace added.

"Ah. We don't have eggs right now but I can go buy some."

"It's okay, Benny, we're good with vegan ones," said Joe. Grace also nodded in agreement. They did start with their meals, allowing Ben to breathe a sigh of relief.

Unbeknownst to Ben, though, Joe indeed wasn't playing any game. Actually he took a photo of his breakfast and posted it on Instagram. The post read:

_Look at the vegan breakfast my stepmom made me! Yummy!_

After breakfast, the first thing he did was to check the replies. First one was from a classmate:

_I still want to know who your stepmom is. Take a selfie!_

And then it was Uncle Jamie, who was probably confounded and frightened:

_What stepmom? Where are you?_

And of course there was Mommy, two comments in a row:

_Don't be rude and just eat the damn breakfast!_

_And don't post this kind of thing._

Now it was a text message from Dad, who was probably tipped off after Uncle Jamie realised what happened.

_Don't mess with Ben. He's poured heart into making you breakfast._

_We're nice to him. You're the one dumping him here alone hurting his feelings._

_Joe, what did I say? Don't mess with him! I will tell your mom._

_Alright Dad. You should go to sleep or Benny will be worried._

_I will definitely talk to you about your behaviours after I come back._

For lunch, Ben asked the kids if they wanted to dine out or eat takeaways, and they both chose the former without hesitation. Ben wasn't against cooking lunch himself either, but he wasn't confident in his skills yet. Today he brought the kids to a restaurant and asked for a private room so that no one would recognise them. The waiter recommended them to order a family package. Ben turned to the kids, and Joe shrugged. "Up to you," the kid said.

"Yeah. We don't often dine in this kind of fancy restaurants. Dad usually just takes us to pizza express," said Grace, throwing the question back to Ben.

Ben figured that they could just go with the family package. He turned back to the waiter, but before he could say anything, he found the waiter staring at him in a dubious manner, looking alert.

"Umm," Ben hesitated for a bit, and then went on. "We will have-"

"Excuse my abruptness, but... are you not their father? Then you are...?"

 _Oh no._ Ben realised that he was probably mistaken for a child abductor, which was utterly unfortunate, but also proved that he didn't get recognised. Not sure which case was worse. The kids had their eyes wide open looking at the two awkward adults innocently, as if they had no idea what was going on, and definitely didn't say anything useful to help Ben out of this situation.

"Well, I'm actually their father's, umm, you know..." Ben blushed, worrying about what would happen if he did say it out loud.

"Ah, I see!" the waiter blurted before Ben could finish. The suspicion had disappeared, and was replaced by understanding. "I'm so sorry. Should've figured it out earlier. Being a Mom is hard already, but being misunderstood like that? Gosh! I'm genuinely ashamed for it."

"Wait, what? I'm not their Mom. I'm-"

"Ohhh yes, sorry! My mistake. Wrong choice of word. You're their Dad, of course. Don't worry, I know that there are many people out there who're narrow-minded and vile, but I'm definitely not one of them. I'm all for gay rights and trans rights, you know? We're all in this together! Love wins!"

It would be too embarrassing to deny anything now, so Ben only said thanks and placed the order. Joe and Grace sitting on the other end of the dining table were biting their lips and holding back the laughter until the waiter had left the room.

Ben prayed that the waiter would never know who he was, and please, God, may not a single soul sitting in this restaurant recognise him. He had no desire to find a tabloid writing up someday, _'EXCLUSIVE: Benedict Cumberbatch is a trans gay man with two illegitimate kids'_.

"Benny, do you get paid?"

Joe's question distracted Ben from his concern temporarily. "For what?" he squeezed his brows.

"Like the money you spend now. Will Dad pay you back?"

"With money?" Grace chimed in. Ben tried to ignore what she was implying,

"Well, no. We're married. Mine is... his."

Martin and Amanda were never married. Ben sort of regretted mentioning the word 'married' to the kids. Children could be quite sensitive. They might be deeply upset by this. He kept his mouth shut, and saw Grace nodding thoughtfully.

"Not with money, then."

"I have absolutely no idea what you mean, and I don't want to think about it."

Ben cast a smile at Grace, who also curled her lips to smile back, while Joe drank all the water in his class to stop himself from chuckling.


End file.
